Reports: Melo, Nuggets parting ways?

After a report over the weekend that Carmelo Anthony was considering signing a contract extension with the Denver Nuggets, Carmelo’s long-term future as a Denver Nugget seems more and more unclear.

Yesterday, ESPN’s Ric Bucher reported that Melo leaving Denver is a matter of sooner rather than later. Writes Bucher:

All signs continue to point toward the eventual divorce between Carmelo Anthony and the Denver Nuggets.

League sources say it is now a matter of when, not if, Anthony and the Nuggets will go their separate ways.

Anthony is weighing whether to sign a three-year, $65 million extension offered by the Nuggets. His dilemma, league sources say, is what affords him the best chance of continuing his career elsewhere. Anthony could sign with Denver and convince the team to then trade him. His other option would be to not sign the extension, thereby forcing the team to move him rather than risk losing him next summer as a free agent.

During his annual basketball camp in Colorado on Saturday, Anthony said he had no timetable on when he’ll decide whether to sign the extension.

In either case, “he’s going to make it real clear that he’s not coming back,” said one league source.

Meanwhile, back in Denver, the Denver Post notes that the Nuggets seem resigned to a post-Melo fate…

While deciding where he wants to spend the rest of his basketball life, Carmelo Anthony will do what’s right by his family.

But believe this: Nuggets owner Stan Kroenke will do what is best for his hefty investment in an NBA franchise, even if that means trading Melo.

There is no way Denver can afford to lose the face of its franchise for nothing as a free agent.

The Nuggets are now considering a strategy to part ways with their 26-year-old star forward, according to a league source.

As for Anthony himself, over on Twitter he cryptically weighed in last night: